


Just a glance.

by Axrael55



Category: Biohazard | Resident Evil (Gameverse)
Genre: A little, F/M, Fluff, Jealousy, Kinda, Slow Burn, it's leon and jill figuring out their feelings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-13
Updated: 2020-05-14
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:48:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 17,134
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23638570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Axrael55/pseuds/Axrael55
Summary: It was thanks to Claire's and Chris's idea of throwing a Christmas party, really. The second they shared a glance, everything changed.
Relationships: Leon S. Kennedy/Jill Valentine
Comments: 37
Kudos: 44





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoy.

Leon was tired, of that he had no doubt. His muscles ached, he was hungry and thirsty. The damn training that he was under to become a special agent was wearing him out. He never had been in bad shape but now they wanted to be in peak physical condition, and he was going to be. He may be dorky, kinda slow with the women but he had learned to never give up and if he had to become superman himself to ensure that Sherry was safe, well.. he was going to do it. He laid in his bed, thinking of paying the little girl a surprise visit for Christmas when the phone started ringing. Sighing, he sat on the bed and picked it up.

And he kinda wished he didn't.

It was her, Claire. The girl that had become something like his best friend in the past year or so that he met her. Sure, she broke his heart when she left him and Sherry but he couldn't really be mad about it. What was he expecting? For her to drop everything and just play pretend? Pf..

Still, it hurt. When she told him that she was leaving them.

**The three of them where together, in what had been his parents’ house trying to figure out what to do next after escaping Raccoon City. One night, when Sherry was sleeping and they were in the couch watching tv or at least pretending to she told him, quietly, as if afraid of his reaction.**

**"Leon, I have to tell you something." The minute que heard it; he knew it was going to be bad. Her voice just sounded apologetic.**

**He looked at her, at her eyes, and knew that whatever she was going to say couldn't be changed because she was determined.**

**So, he asked. “What is it?”**

**She opened her mouth and closed it, repeatedly like a fish out of water. She closed her eyes, gathering strength and said. “I have to leave, soon. Maybe even in a couple of hours. I have to find Chris”**

**Ah, he thought. So that was it, well he supposed it lasted long enough, this peace and whatever he thought they had. He figured that there wasn’t much that he could do or say to change her mind. She was determined, and loyal to a fault if she cared enough for you. He may not know her for a long time but he knew this to be true. And even if he could say or do something, he wouldn’t because what kind of asshole did that? Not him, that was for sure. So, he said what he had to.**

**“Okay”**

**There he thought I’ve said it. Now I can wait for her to leave a crumble to the floor and cry for the injustice of it all. He was trying to hold back the tear in that moment. God, he thought. Living with to girls has made me so sappy.**

**She, on the other hand was surprised. He had agreed so easy, she expected a little resistance. But this was good, was it?**

**“You don’t need to look so surprised Claire. I’m not a bad guy, you want to find your brother. You have to, it was the whole reason you went there.”**

**And he was right, Chris was the reason she went to Raccoon. And now? He might be the reason she to why she left someone she came to love. It was funny, she knew, she just _knew_ that her life and Leon will always be intertwined with each other but maybe not in the way she hoped for at first. If she did this, she would be, possibly, _quite_ possibly in fact be closing that door forever. She would do it though, no matter how much it hurt. She would have time to regret it later. Hopefully not though. She really did want to be with him, but the timing wasn’t right. **

**Getting out of her own thoughts she said “I know that Leon, I know. I’m glad that you are not. You just keep on proving the kind, selfless, beautiful man that you are.” She meant the beautiful part too. Damn that butt chin.**

**He couldn’t help the laugh that escaped his throat. It felt good to laugh in a situation like this.**

**“When are you leaving?” he asked**

**“I don’t know. At midnight would be best, I think. More caution that way.” She responded.**

**The stared at each other straight in the eyes. Leon was the first to broke contact and glanced at the clock in the wall. It was 20 pm.**

**“You should go to bed at least get four hours of sleep; I’ll wake you up.” he suggested.**

**It was a good way of getting to be alone and processing everything he thought.**

**“You sure? You’ll be okay?” she asked**

**Without looking at her he said, quietly “Yes, don’t worry. Pack, get some rest and then we’ll wake Sherry.”**

**He was hurting she realized, and she was the cause of that. She wanted to say something but though better of it and left him alone in the couch and went to pack and get some sleep. Later, when it was nearly midnight the three of them stood in the sidewalk in front of a car they had “borrowed” to get to the house. Two of them were side by side, holding hands. The other was facing them, bag in shoulder and eyes watery.**

**She was beautiful Leon thought. Under the pale light of the moon her face reflected prettily all those things that he liked. And the way the wind moved her auburn colored hair. He was in love, painfully so.**

**Sherry at his side, wasn’t crying. She had promised them that she’d never cry again. No matter what. And she was trying so hard not to cry, so hard. Neither of them spoke until Sherry let go of Leon’s hand and approached Claire’s and took it.**

**“I wish you good luck Claire. You are the sister I never had, thanks for everything you did for me. Specially saving my life” she said. And if her voice broke a little nobody said anything.**

**“You have nothing to thank for Sherry. I’ll always be there to protect you. Though I doubt you’ll need it.” She crouched in front of the girl and said in a whisper to her ear “Take care of the big guy ‘kay? He acts and is tough but everybody needs helps once in a while”. As she was whispering this, she looked at Leon’s face and instantly regretted it. Such a beautiful man shouldn’t have such a sad face. And she knew it was her fault that he was sad, but so was she.**

**She stood and asked to Sherry to go inside so she could have ‘grown ups talk” with Leon. After hugging her, the little girl left.**

**So now they were alone, and she desperately wanted him to do or say something, that stoic and at the same time sad face was going to be the death of her.**

**“So” she said.**

**“So” he echoed.**

**And they both went into silence mode again.**

**In his mind, Leon was thinking that he was acting like a brat. She was 19 he was 21. They were big enough to be acting better. And she didn’t deserve this. So, getting his shit together he moved quickly, surprising her and hugged her.**

**A strong hug, a soft hug.**

**A powerful hug that was his way of proving his love, his faith and everything that words failed to express. She hugged him instantly too. The same way.**

**He said in her ear, in a soft voice. “Good luck Claire. You’ll need it. Thank you for everything.” And kissed her cheek.**

**And in that kiss, she knew that her feelings towards him were returned. And hope rose from within her chest. Maybe, if everything went according to plan she would have a chance when she returned.**

**When he released her from the hug, she said “Don’t thank me for anything. Never you. We’ll see each other again ‘kay? I can promise that. You know that I won’t die so easy. If I get any info or need help, I’ll contact you. I’ll find a way” She kissed his cheek and smiled. “Goodbye Leon, take care of her. And yourself.”**

**She got in the car, started it and left. Like that.**

**He stood in the street watching, waiting for her to come back. When he realized that she wouldn’t in fact, come back. He entered the house and closed the door.**

**Bitterly, he thought that the house door wasn’t the only door that closed that night.**

**The two weeks that followed, were in fact the best of his damn life. Sherry was awesome, the light at the end of the tunnel. He didn’t know what was it like to have a daughter but he was sure this was it.**

**But it wasn’t long before the government tracked them down. It was a stupid mistake he realized, staying in one place for too long. But at the same time he was hoping for maybe be able to get a job nearby or something and live in peace.**

**Alas, it wasn’t meant to be.**

**They broke in the house while they were eating breakfast and talking about her favorite tv show, the knocked them out with some gas.**

**When he woke up, he couldn’t really tell where he was, but it looked like the usual movie place where the FBI or something like that took you for interrogation. He was a bit dizzy sure, but still functional enough. Enough to see that he wasn’t alone, in the corner was a woman dressed in typical business attire. She didn’t talk to him, she just looked at him. Waiting for him to crack and tell her everything. When he didn’t, she opened the door and two goons entered. Big biffy guys. It was helluva beating, he had to admit. After the punches stopped, she spoke for the first time.**

**“How did you escape the city? Who else was with you aside from the girl?”**

**He didn’t answer at first and wasn’t going to until she said “If you don’t tell us, we’ll kill her. Alive or dead it doesn’t matter to us; she has proven to be immune to the virus. We can experiment on her dead body _or_ you can talk and she lives, in a place of our choosing with visits from you of course and whoever you wish to go with. Either way you should talk. We have an offer for you. If you talk, not only the both of you live but you get trained by us and become an agent. You survived the city; we want to know how. Talk, and live. Do it by choice because if you force our hand, you’ll lose everything.”**

**So, without considering anything, he talked. He told her everything, except for Claire. He didn’t mention her. She was better free. He didn’t know how the found out that he and Sherry escaped, maybe someone rattled but _who?_ That was the million dollar question.**

**After everything was said and done, the let him say goodbye to her. It was tearful, sad and heartbreaking.**

**“I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you better Sherry you deserve better than to be someone’s guinea pig. Please forgive me.” He implored with his eyes full of tears.**

**She was crying freely while hugging him.**

**“I’m going to miss you Leon, it isn’t your fault, it isn’t” she sobbed hard into his chest.**

**He promised her that he would come and see her whenever he could and she believed him. Because he was her hero.**

“Hello? Leon?” He jumped out of his head when he heard the voice of Claire through the phone. He had been so lost into his thoughts.

“H-hi” he cleared his throat “Hi Claire”

“Leon, it’s so nice to hear you again. I’ve tried to call you a few times since I came back from looking for Chris but I couldn’t find you and I went into your house but no one was there” He had forgot to tell her that he wasn’t living there anymore. He had sold the house to get an apartment in D.C. How did she get his number anyway?

“By the way, Chris gave me your number to contact you.”

Ah. That’s how.

“Well, I’m glad you could find Chris. You have to tell me everything about the voyage you went into. I’m free for the holidays if you want to do go for a coffee or something.”

He was kind of glad to be talking to her again, he was definitely happy that she was safe.

“Actually that sounds great. Listen up, me and Chris are throwing a party for Christmas and New Year in his apartment. We called some friends of ours but also the people that we know survived Raccoon City. So what do you see? Before you ask, it’d be you, Chris, Barry, Jill, Rebecca and me. Those four were part of the S.T.A.R.S. And they want to meet you. What do you say?”

By the end, he was surprised that she hadn’t gone out of breath. She had talked so fast and sounded so excited that he didn’t have the heart to tell her that he’d rather spend the holidays with Sherry, but that would made him the bad guy. And also, Sherry deserved spending quality time with Claire. They had a lot to talk about. Claire was going to kill him for what happened.

“Sure Claire, sounds great. Give me the address, Sherry and I will be there. Don’t worry.” Once he had the address, he got up of bed, took a shower, dressed and went to buy presents and then he would pick Sherry up. He still had a couple of days to go to Chris’s apartment.

He hoped to be lucky enough to get some action, at least a kiss. Or a hug really. He was kinda lonely.

Sad. 


	2. Chapter 2.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With Sherry in tow, Leon goes to the Redfield apartment and has a talk with Claire about what happened with him and the little girl.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy?

As Leon was walking down the stairs to get out of his apartment, he was thinking of what to do first. Should he pick up Sherry first and then buy presents? Or should he buy the presents and then pick up Sherry?

What to do, what to do..

Once out, the first he noticed was the cold. _God,_ he loved the cold. It was windy too, so that just added to his now good humor. Taking a moment to admire the sunny yet cold day a smile crept to his face, the first one in a while. He got inside the car and decided to pick Sherry and buy whatever present she wanted. It wasn’t a long ride, his apartment was purposely close to the place where the government kept Sherry, making experiments on her. He hoped that being with him for the holidays and seeing Claire again would make things easier for her. He turned on the car and began to make his way to the compound. On the way over he began to think that maybe going to the party would be something good, he could make friends and have someone to talk to when his next break from training arrived. Not to mention that once his training was over, he would go on missions and he could quite possibly need someone to take care of his fish. And it was also a good opportunity to reconnect with Claire, even if she broke his heart, they had the chance to be great friends. He also was planning on befriending Chris, when they met so he could pass the location of Claire in that island, they shared a few words and the guy actually thanked him for protecting his sister back in the city. Though Leon had admitted that she saved his sorry ass a lot too. They met a lot after he and Claire returned, when Chris asked him why he wasn’t talking to her sister Leon couldn’t lie and came clean. So he told him everything.

“I’m not ready to talk to her what happened. I’m not angry or anything but I want to lose these feelings I have for her you know? So, when we do meet it won’t be so uncomfortable.” He had said. Hoping that the older Redfield wouldn’t act like a protective older brother her sister said he was. And surprisingly, he didn’t. The man just looked at him at the eyes, gave him a really unwavering look. After a couple of seconds, the older man just sighed, closed his eyes for a moment and said “Well, I agree with you. Maybe if you see her before you’re over her you’ll fight and you’ll hurt her. And then I’ll have to hurt you, and I reaaaally don’t want to that. You’re a good guy. She likes you, considers you her friend. So do I.” After that, the conversation just flowed between them. They were drinking in a bar and just after he left, the older man of the two just wished him luck, promised to not tell her sister anything and went on his way.

Leon got out of his memories as he drew closer to the compound. Once there, he parked the car and got out and made way to the front door. It was a huge place, a building to big to be a house but to small to be considered a hospital or something like that. Basically, they were hiding in plane sight. Once in the front door he had to speak through a speaker and ask for permission to get in.

“Hello, I’m Agent Leon S. Kennedy. I’m here to retrieve Sherry Birkin.”

 _Retrieve_ such a degrading word to use when talking about a human being. But it was needed here. They didn’t see her as human, just an object, something to inject needles and extract blood and whatever else they did to her. She didn’t like to talk about it. Even still, she was cheerful. And he loved that about her, even when she faced god-knows in there what she remained happy and easy going, never sad or something. He hoped that she wasn’t hiding anything from him though.

“You can enter Agent Kennedy” spoke a female voice.

He grabbed the door and yanked it open, once inside he relaxed thanks to the warm in the main hall. A woman approached him. “Hi Agent Kennedy, please wait here. She’ll be right down.” So, he took a seat in one of the chairs and waited. She came down from the upper floor in a couple of minutes. The second she saw him she became a bullet and in just a moment she was hugging him like he was his favorite person in the world.

Best. Feeling. Ever.

He hugged her back and said “How are you doing kiddo? Are they treating you well here?”

She looked up at him and said “I’m better now that you’re here. And well enough, considering”

That. That made him angry, he was sure that these assholes didn’t treat like she deserved, but for a couples of days he was going to make damn sure he was.

“Okay, let’s go outside. We’ll go to the mall and buy presents and then we’ll eat something”

Before they exited the place, he made sure she was dressed enough to not be cold outside. Done that, he grabbed her hand and out they went. He checked his watch 13:00 p.m it read.

He figured that it was lunch time and they’d be better with food in they’re stomachs.

He looked at her and said “Now that you’re out of there what do you want to do? Head back to the apartment first and eat there or eat at the mall and buy presents? You get to choose yours. As many as you want” Even though he wasn’t officially working for the government yet and was still in training they were paying him a nice amount of money, most likely to keep him in his toes and loyal to them. So, he figured, why not expend that money in things for people that he cared about.

Sherry place a hand in her chin and seemed to think about it.

“Hmm, let’s go to the mall and get everything out of the way so then we can play games in your apartment” she said.

Having decided on a plan for the day and entered the car he set route to the mall and smiled; this was going to be a good day.

Turns out, as much of a good day as it was, it was also fucking exhausting. Who knew that the little girl had so much energy inside of her. She ate like a madwoman also, when he encouraged her to pick a present for herself, she picked a red jacket like Claire’s. She looked really good and cute in it. Then he bought a present por Claire a vinyl of the best songs of Queen and a necklace which had two spread wings and a lion at each side and the word ‘Queen’. Since she was such a fan of the band, he hoped the presents were enough. And for Chris he bought new thigh holster for his pistol.

After that, he saw the most beautiful brown leather jacket and he figured _Why not?_ He deserved it after all. Then, once they had presents for everybody, she wanted to go to the games section. And they spent the rest of the day there.

Upon returning to his apartment he went on to make them coffee and figured that it was a good time to tell her about the party.

She was on the couch when he approached her “Hey Sherry. There is something I have to tell you” he said.

She was looking for something to watch on tv when he spoke, she looked at him “What is it?” she asked. With the faintest trace of fear on her voice.

“Claire called earlier today. She wants us to go to her Christmas and New Years party.” The moment he finished that sentence, her eyes just became alight with such a joy that it transferred to his own. “Really?!” she was so excited that it seemed like she would explode. She was jumping up and down in the couch. “Yeah. Really, we can go together and you can stay with here if you want or return with me, whatever you decide kiddo.” The happiness and joy were there, but the excitedness had calmed. She was silent for a little bit and then said “Can we ask her to visit me? The lady said to you that they’d allow someone to come visit me apart from you. And.. I’m not mad at her anymore.” The look that she gave him was a hopeful one. He knew that the minute Claire found out about Sherry situation, she was going to be pissed and even if the decision to not tell her was Sherry’s he wouldn’t say anything. And he figured that if the kid was over her anger, it was time for him to move on too.

“Yeah of course. But first let me talk to her and explained everything okay?”

“Okay” she sighed with relief. She went back to changing channels, searching for something to see. “I hope she doesn’t get mad at you.” She added.

“I hope so too, kid. I hope so too.” He got up, and went to check if the coffee was already made and the poured it into two different mugs. He went back to the couch and sat next to her. “Here you go kid, I know that you like to stay up late and coffee will help you and while I should tell you something about responsibility and getting enough sleep.. I won’t. You deserve some freedom.” He gave her the mug and she took it, welcoming the heat that was in her hands. They sat there, in comfortable silence while drinking the hot beverage and watching some detective’s movie. After a while, he broke the silence saying “Okay, I’m beat. I’m going to bed, don’t watch anything dirty okay? They charge for that.” The blush that appeared on her was hilarious “Shut up, don’t mock me.. asshole” she muttered the last part quietly. His laughter could be heard behind his closed door.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The next couple of days they had, were, for both of them quite peaceful and enjoyable. They did nothing at all except play videogames and sleep, and eat all sorts of trash food. The morning of the 23 of December came, and with it a call from Chris Redfield.

Leon had just got out of his shower after exercising, he had to exercise at least a little to lose all the trash food, when the phone rang. He went to pick it up “Hello? Speak quickly because my towel will drop in any minute.” he joked.

“Weird way to start a conversation over the phone man, you shouldn’t give that kind of information so quickly. The next thing you know, the only audible thing it’ll be the breathing sound of someone.” Joked back Chris.

Leon felt a shiver go down his spine. “Thanks man, now I’ll have more nightmares.”

“Anytime my friend, anytime. So, listen could you come around 7 p.m. o’clock? To help prepare the food and table and stuff.”

That worked for him so he couldn’t refuse. “Yeah sure, Sherry and I’ll be there. Don’t worry.”

“Sweet, thanks Kennedy. See you in a couple of hours.” And with that, the man ended the call.

Well, Leon thought. Better prepare for the day.

It was exactly at 18:30 P.M when he and Sherry where standing outside the door of the Redfield sibling’s apartment. Turning left to where the girl was, he said “Hey, you want to knock?” she smiled, nodded and knocked.

It was Claire who opened it and the second she saw them she went for a hug. Everyone moved in sync for a hug and stayed there for a good minute or so. They weren’t aware that the door stayed open and that Chris was watching them, amused. Once they separated Claire said “Come in guys, come in.” With now everyone inside, Leon could appreciate the lobby, it was big but cozy and everything was in plain sight. The couch, big enough for 5 persons was in front of a coffee table and a tv. The kitchen was just to his left, there was a large bar table with stools nicely tucked in. He noticed that there was a balcony to his right, near the doors that he was sure were the bedrooms. He didn’t see anything that resembled a bathroom. Maybe the bedrooms had a bathroom inside.

“Sherry this is my brother Chris, I’m sure you haven’t met him yet.” He went for a quick shake of hands or something since he wasn’t really good with kids.

“Thank you, Mr. Redfield for teaching Claire to fight, thanks to that she and Leon saved my life.”

Touched, Chris returned the hug and patted her head “You’re very welcome Sherry, I’m glad she paid attention to my classes.” He turned to Leon and extended his hand for a handshake.

“How are you man?”

“Can’t complain really, thanks again for inviting us.”

“You know you’re welcome here whenever you want man.”

He turned and saw that Claire and Sherry where talking in the couch, they seemed so happy to be talking to each other. It was cute.

“Hey Leon, help me prepare the snacks and everything will ya?”

“Sure thing.”

And with that, the two men started preparing everything for the party.

Chris looked at him, like assessing him.

“You good? You know, with coming here. I wasn’t really sure if you’d come.”

“Yeah I’m good. I won’t lie to you, if it wasn’t for Sherry there I don’t thing I’d come. But she said that she wanted to see Claire and talk to her. Couldn’t refuse.”

“Ah, I figured as much. A bit of advice?” Chris leaned in to whisper, so her sister wouldn’t hear him. “Try to talk to her before the party, maybe she’ll get mad at you for not saying anything about what happened after she left, but it makes the chances of her killing you slimmer. If you tell her while there are people here and she gets mad she will make a scene. And then she’ll be mad _and_ embarrassed. You don’t want that.”

“I figured as much, let’s finish this and then I’ll talk to her. When are the other guest coming?”

“Maybe around eight thirty or nineish.”

They stood there, filling bowls with chips and all kind of snacks, making punch, putting the beer in the fridge and preparing the hamburgers they were going to eat.

After a couple of minutes, once they finished Leon went to talk to Claire.

They were still in the couch, talking and laughing, Sherry was laughing so much that she had tears in her eyes. He stood behind them in the couch and bend over so they could see him.

“Hey kiddo, you mind if I steal her for a while?”

Sherry nodded with her head while drying her tears of laughter.

He looked at Claire, she had a curious expression in her face.

“Could we talk somewhere privately?”

“Yeah, let’s go to the balcony.”

Once outside he took a deep breath and thanked the gods for the cold.

“So, what did you want to talk about?”

He was silent while he pondered the best way to say everything, he looked at her and hoped that she wouldn’t kill him. There where witnesses after all.

After a second, he just spilled everything. How he and Sherry were living after she left, that he was thinking of looking for a part time job until he found some police station where he could ask for an interview, that the both of them were hurt for a while but they understood and didn’t blame her, she shouldn’t worry about that. And that the reason they where distanced from here wasn’t because they were angry but because the government found them.

The second those words came out of his mouth, hers dropped and her face quickly adopted a worry look. He didn’t want her to ask anything because that would make things harder for him so he rapidly continued with his narration. He told her about the interrogation, the threats and that he hadn’t told them anything about her so she shouldn’t worry about that. He said that he could and would give her access to go visit Sherry at the compound, he only had to talk with the people in charge. He said that he was in training to become a special agent for special situations. Situations like the outbreak at Raccoon City. Her face went from worried to angry, and then pissed when he told her that Sherry was subject of experiments in the compound.

“They are doing what on her now?! How could you let that happen? What were you thinking?” while saying that, well more like shouting really, she came close to his face, almost nose to nose.

“I didn’t have any other choice Claire, if I had this wouldn’t have happened, believe me.”

They looked at each other for a couple of seconds, dead in the eye.

“You disappoint me Leon. You’re telling me that while you where there training, she was victim of some doctors weird experiment? And you weren’t there to help her? Why the fuck did you not call me? At least I could’ve been there for her.”

That was a low blow, and they both knew it. She was gone for almost three months, there was no way for her to be more present for Sherry that he was. Still, he couldn’t tell her the reason that she didn’t get to see the girl it was because of said girl. So he opted for taking the blame, and risking their friendship.

“Look, I know that you’re mad. I get it, I don’t like thinking of what they are doing to her there. But at least she’ll be safe. Like it or not, she’s an asset to the government and they won’t harm her.”

“For your sake Kennedy, let’s hope you’re right.” And with that, she opened the doors and went back inside.

Fuck, he thought. He knew that she would be mad, but not so much. He figured that now on, their interactions would be only for and because of Sherry. So much for at least being friends he thought.

He stood there, watching the sun hide and the night come to life. Enjoying the breeze of the wind, the cold made him melancholic somehow. After what he thought were only some minutes, Chris was there.

“Hey, rookie. The guests are going to be here soon, it’s almost 20:30. There’s some people I want to introduce to you. Ex- S.T.A.R.S members. Good friends of mine. We all went through the same. And we have an offer for you.” He gave the younger man a pat on the back, and left.

 _Well_ , Leon thought _. Let the party begin_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this is going slow and the pairing is Leon/Jill and she hasn't showed up yet but she will in next chapter. I'm just trying to splash out everything correctly.  
> If there is some grammatic error please let me know as English is not my first language.  
> The next few chapter we'll have the most iconic characters (for me) of the RE franchise interact.  
> I'm working on the interactions to be the most human possible and not so robotic, but like I've said this is my first work. I'll work on improve that.  
> If anyone has some advice or something, feel free to leave a comment.


	3. Chapter 3.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leon and Jill meet for the first time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoy.

Leon wanted to stay a little more outside, part of it was because of Claire, part of it was because he really didn’t want to be there. But the thing about the offer Chris said had him thinking. Offer about what? He figured that it would be best for him to go inside, he didn’t want to be rude. Once he was in the lobby, he noticed that neither Claire or Sherry were there, it was just Chris setting up the table.

“Hey, where are the girls?”

“They’re in Claire’s room. Sherry wanted to put the presents there, so she could put them under the tree later.”

“Ah, okay.” Leon wanted to ask the older man about the offer but he figured that the time to talk about that would come later, when his ex- teammates were there. So, he helped with the final touches. He was curious though about how many people would actually come.

“So, besides the people that you and Claire mentioned, who else are going to come?”

“Why? You’re not a fan of big crowds?”

“Something like that, I’m more of an introvert so I’ll just keep to myself really.”

Chris chuckled a little.

“Don’t worry, it’s just the team and some friends of Claire. Only a handful of people, relax.”

Later, Leon would realize that a ‘handful of people’ were actually thirty people. And while that wasn’t much, it was enough to make the big apartment feel overcrowded. He glanced at his watch 21:45 it read. Almost all the members of Chris old team were there and he was introduced to them. He could see them, huddled in a corner.

There was Barry, who Chris told him was the oldest of the team. There was Rebecca, a girl only a few years of younger that him. He figured she was 19 maybe 20. Chris said that she wasn’t exactly part of the alpha but the bravo, still she had survived the Spencer Mansion at their side. They seemed like good people; he hadn’t spent a lot of time with them but they were friendly enough. His eyes wandered to Sherry, who was talking to Barry’s daughters Polly and Moira. And finally, his eyes went to Claire who was talking to some girls that seemed close to her age. They were giggling and pointing to some of the other boys in the place. He scanned the rest of the place; he didn’t know nobody else except those people. Still, there was someone missing. He was sure of it. He recalled that Claire said some other name besides Barry and Rebecca. _Maybe I imagined it?_ He thought. The sound of someone knocking the door took him out of his mind. He hadn’t realized that he was so close to the door. _Was I unconsciously trying to get out of the party?_ The thought amused him to no end.

The knocking increased in tempo and noise. He debated whether to open the door himself or tell one of the Redfield siblings since it was their apartment after all. He decided it was better to tell Chris, Claire hadn’t said a word to him since their chat and if looks could kill, he’d be dead. A lot.

He went up to the corner where Chris and his friends were.

“Hey, sorry to interrupt but there is someone knocking on the door and I figured it was best if you open it you know, your house your guests.”

“All right, thanks.” Chris looked at Barry and Rebecca “Keep him company okay? Get to know each other, I’ll be right back.”

With Chris gone, Leon didn’t know what to say exactly. He wasn’t good at small talk.

The three of them where in silence for a couple of seconds before Rebecca blurted out “I was a medic.” And with that, the silence broke and the conversation flowed. They traded little facts about their life, how was for Leon the academy before being accepted at the R.P.D, how many years Barry’s been in the force and how Rebecca graduated at 14 from high school and four later at 18 she graduated from university, top of her class and was accepted at the Bravo Team of S.T.A.R.S. as a medic. He was curious to know how she got into the team but he was also thirsty and he figured that the latter was more important right now “I’m going to grab a beer; you guys want one?” They gave him a nod so he went to the fridge in the kitchen, grabbed three bottles and went back to them, he saw that Chris had already returned and didn’t have any drink so he went back and grabbed one more beer.

Now yes, with four bottles two in each hand he made way back to the group. “Here you go guys” he handed them the bottles and looked at Rebecca “How did you got accepted in the team? Was it the standard test that you took or a little more different?”

“Oh, I had to do both of them. I did the standard one first, obviously and then the other one. Chief Irons had made it clear that if I wanted to be a medic in the Bravo Team, I had to ace the standard test and then I would be given the chance to do the other” Leon nodded, that made sense, maybe Irons hadn’t always been that piece of shit he knew.

By chance, he looked at Chris and was amused at what he saw. The man was looking at her with such a tenderness that it surprised him and now that he was paying attention, he could see that they were pretty close. Arms touching, fingers brushing close.

 _Hmm could they be together?_ He thought. They made a nice-looking couple and together or not, Leon was sure his friend would tell him if anything happened.

“This guy right here” she pointed at Chris “was my supervisor for the standard test.”

“I was everyone’s supervisor for the standard test darling. It was part of my job.”

“I know that smart-ass, I’m just saying. Besides, this is _my_ story, not everyone’s.” She flicked his nose with her finger and he made a funny face at her.

Leon looked at Barry and they both shared an amused expression. And while he was more comfortable now, and he really like these two it just felt like something was missing, he had no idea of what or _who_ , earlier when he was watching this same group, he was part of now he felt like someone was missing. And he still did, so he began to look around the room to find whatever was missing and that was when he saw her. She was talking to Claire a few meters away of where he was standing and the second his gaze fell upon her, she looked at him.

She was without a doubt, the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Her face was a defined jaw and high cheekbones, a cute nose and pouty lips. Her brown hair was short, reached her jaw and it seemed soft like silk, suddenly he had the strongest and _strangest_ urge to thread his fingers through it. They looked at each other in the eye. His blue eyes met hers.

And everything around them disappeared, the people, the music, the noise. It was just them and nothing else. It was a strange feeling, like magnetism. They couldn’t look away from each other, so they stared for what it felt forever, absorbing every little detail about one another they could but in reality, it was just a glance, the fraction of a second. Suddenly everything came into focus again, the conversations they were having, the noise, the music, the people around them,

Jill felt her cheeks heat up and Leon felt like his neck was on fire.

They quickly looked away and focused on their respective conversations. Jill finished her conversation with Claire and began making her way to where the man with the most beautiful eyes she had ever seen was standing. And her friends, they were there too.

He had never felt like that from just looking at someone. Should he go and talk her? Maybe introduce himself? Nah, he didn’t even know her!

Who was she anyway? He hadn’t seen her in the party. He was sure of it.

Wait.

The knocking on the door.

The person he was sure was missing from here.

Could it be her?

Or maybe this was just his mind playing tricks.

Stupid mind.

God how lonely was he? Feeling like this only because he looked someone in the eyes. Big whoops.

Just as he was starting to feel like a moron, Barry said something that he would forever remember.

“Hey, Jill is here.”

“Jill? Jill Valentine?” Leon felt like he was two seconds away from doing a happy dance in front of everyone. So this wasn’t his mind playing tricks and he was right! Someone was in fact missing from this party!

Chris looked at him “Yeah man, Jill. Y’know my best friend? I talked to you about her. Several times.” Oh yeah, he remembered now.

This was _THE_ _JILL VALENTINE_ with capital letter that Chris was always gushing about on and on about how cool she was, how great of a friend she was, how she was the master of unlocking and the best on hand to hand? He was screwed.

She was a freaking legend according to Chris, and the most nonsense person he had ever met in the romantic area. If she said no then it was no. If you looked at her in a way that she didn’t like then you were dead. You objectified her? Dead. You tried to grope her? Dead. You were not the perfect specimen of a men on a date? Dead, but lucky enough to have had a date before being murdered. Maybe she wasn’t that bad, surely his friend was exaggerating. According to Chris though, she wasn’t the type to go to on a lot of dates, only a handful were lucky enough. To much in love with her work and to much _not_ in love with assholes he had said.

She sounded _badass_. Also, beautiful and totally out of his league.

Okay, so maybe it wouldn’t be such a good idea to talk to her. 

And she was also coming to where he was. Why?! Was she going to kill him for looking at her? It wasn’t a bad look! Oh no, she was getting closer. What to do, what to do.

 _Run_! Said his brain.

 _Stay and face death like a champ_ said his legs, he didn’t want to listen to his legs, but they wouldn’t move.

Fucking legs.

And look at that, while he was trying to make his fucking legs to move, she was already there.

Great. Now he was dead. Except… she wasn’t there for him. Silly him, she didn’t even know him. She was there because of her teammates. He got his head out of his ass when he noticed that Chris was talking to him.

“Leon, this is my best friend Jill Valentine.”

And now she was in front of him. Up close, he could see that she wasn’t short, she was almost his height if a little shorter. “Hi Jill, I’m Leon. Nice to finally meet you” he was trying so hard not to let his voice break “This guy right here” he pointed a finger at Chris “Has been talking my ear off while talking about you. It’s nice to put a face to the legend.” Mission accomplished, his voice didn’t crack. Ace.

He gave her a smile, not a flirty smile nor a creepy one. A friendly one.

Jill though couldn’t help but smile back at him since his smile was contagious and he was so handsome and _beautiful_ , how could a man be so beautiful? He looked almost like a model, when talking about him Claire had failed to mention that.

She put her hand for a handshake “Hi, nice to meet you too!” she said it excitedly and if her voice was a little higher than usual, her friends didn’t say anything. And the men, perhaps didn’t see it, but Rebecca did. Oh lord she saw, that little tinge of redness in her cheeks and in Leon’s neck. They were blushing! This was going to be so much fun! She nudged Chris in the stomach, not to strong, pointed her head at the two of them and raised her eyebrows. And then Chris saw it too, and smirked. He was going to say something but Rebecca shook her head saying no. “Let’s leave them alone, trust me. I don’t think they’ll notice.” She left, without waiting for an answer, she knew that Chris would follow her. The older Redfield sibling gave one last look at her best friend and her sister best friend and knew that whatever happened, could only end two ways. Happy ending or Sad ending. He turned his head to Barry, who was watching everything with an amused faced and knowing eyes “Go with her, I have to go to my wife.” And with that, the older man left. Smiling Chris went after Rebecca.

Meanwhile Jill and Leon where lost in their little world, again. They were nervous, they both wanted to say something but didn’t know what. Leon was about to excuse himself and make a run for it when she opened her mouth.

“So,” Jill began “Chris talked about me?” she tried to make her voice sound normal again.

Leon nodded his head repeatedly “Oh yeah, a lot.”

“What did he say? Nothing bad I hope.”

“Oh no, mostly he talked about how the two of you shared a fair amount of cases together and made a good team and he enjoyed your company.”

 _Aw_ _that’s nice_. Jill thought. _Maybe I should stop telling people the story about that time he nearly pooped himself while chasing a thief._

“He also told me that one day I should ask you about some story involving you, a weird man in a bar, a petition to pole dance and a broken nose. I’m afraid to ask though.” He let out a laugh.

Okay, maybe she would tell _everybody_ the poop story.

“Is that so? You break one nose and they never let you forget it I tell you.”

They shared a laugh together and moved closer without noticing. There was some pull that they both felt towards the other even if they didn’t know it. They were slowly feeling more comfortable, more relaxed with each other.

“Has he said anything about me?” Leon was, admittedly, rather curious to know if his friend had ever said anything about him to her. Maybe he put on a good word?

Jill shaking her head no immediately killed that slim light of hope he had. “Claire did, she told me about you saving her a couple of times in Raccoon and she saving you, but not anything else” She suddenly snapped her fingers as if something came up to her head “she also said that it had been your first day. That’s true?” she asked with a hint of disbelief in her voice.

His face fell slightly and his look went downward and she wanted to punch herself for bringing Raccoon City. Those were bad memories for her but even so, she had a few years of seeing awful things. But him? If that had been his first day as a cop, not pretty memories to bring back. She had been so much eager to keep the conversation flowing that she forgot how to be tactful, apparently.

He looked up “Yeah, pretty shitty right? First day of my dreamed job and everything goes to shit. But hey, at least I learned some stuff from that” his tone was sarcastic and dry “Like how to sleep with one eye open, never to trust someone when they flash you an FBI card” Jill looked at him with both eyebrows up at this so he was quickly to clarify “I encountered this woman who said she was FBI, I believed her, took a bullet for her. Because you know, who was more important? FBI agent or rookie cop? Anyway, turns out, she was a mercenary, a thief and was there to steal a sample of the virus.” He gave a long sigh; he hadn’t thought of Ada in a long time. His pride was still wounded, he’d been played so masterfully.

They were both silent for a couple of seconds until Jill broke it “Chris told you about the Spencer mansion, right?” he nodded so he continued “Since then and Raccoon I’ve learned a few things myself. Not to trust your captain is one” he snorted so she assumed she knew about Wesker’s betrayal “I also now sleep with one eye open and my hand grabbing my pistol. All of us” she pointed at them with her finger and with her head to where her best friend and Rebecca where, then at Barry “came out with a few insecurities and new ‘defenses’ per say. No need to feel ashamed or angry or whatever. It’s part of the job, zombies or not, the death experiences would’ve been there either way.” His face softened and he nodded “Yeah, thanks. Knowing that I’m not the only one that is that way makes me feel less paranoid.”

She rubbed his arm, comfortingly “We’re all paranoid, one way or another.” She kept rubbing his arm, it was only when she noticed how muscly they were that she came to her senses that dropped her arm as if he was pure fire. Blushing like a schoolgirl she said “I’m gonna get a bottle of beer, you want anything? Doesn’t matter I’ll bring you one” and left. _Good job_ Valentine _, you touched him without permission_. It didn’t matter that it was only on a comforting gesture, they weren’t even friends for crying out loud! Though, she wouldn’t be opposed to be friends. Maybe that way she could comfort him more often. Chuckling to herself, she went to the fridge to get two beers though she hesitated because he hadn’t answered. Did he want or did he not want a beer?

She grabbed one for him either way, if he didn’t want it, more for her.

Leon, on the other side of the apartment was rather confused. He didn’t know why she had left so suddenly and more importantly why had she stopped rubbing his fucking arm! It was the best feeling ever! And furthermore, she left without waiting for an answer, he still had some beer in his bottle.

Shaking his head, he muttered under his breath “Women.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So they finally meet! I'm not 100% happy with how this chapter turned out but I'm happy enough. If you see any kind of error please let me know.   
> Also, I feel like I have to clarify something. I'll try to make the transition that Leon has from "Soft boi" to "sarcastic boi" to "sad man" as believable as possible. Still, this is my personalization of the characters so I guess I'll take a few liberties.


	4. Chapter 4.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jill and Leon get a little closer. Leon has a talk with Claire.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy. <3

While waiting for Jill to return with the drinks Leon stood alone observing the people in the party. Claire was dancing with a man, he expected to feel jealous when he saw her but he didn’t feel anything. He was glad in fact, these meant that his romantics feelings for her where gone and that was for the better, he considered his best friend. _Maybe_ , he thought _, once they made amends over the thing with Sherry they would go back to normal_. He stopped looking at her and continued moving his gaze across the room. Chris was in the couch with Rebecca, Barry was with his wife and Sherry was talking and laughing with Moira, that last thing he observed was a surprise, a welcome one. She deserved more friends besides him and Claire.

Seeing Jill walking back to where he was made a smile crept to his face and he couldn’t help but think that maybe Sherry wasn’t the only one that would gain a new friend from this party.

When Jill saw him and noticed him smiling at her she couldn’t help but return it, what could she say? The guy had an infectious smile.

He was making her feel all mushy inside, _ugh_.

Finally, she reached him and handed him the cold beer which he thanked with a nod. They stood in comfortable silence, watching the party while being close to each other.

Suddenly a thought popped in her head, she turned towards him “You never said what your last name was.” He looked thoughtful “Didn’t I?” she shook her head no.

“Huh. Well, let’s do this again and properly this time.” He straightened his back and put his hand out.

“Hello, my name is Leon Kennedy. I hope you apologize my rudeness before.” The fact that the sentence was said with a really bad British accent and finished with a bow made her laugh until tears were coming out of her eyes “T-that was a really bad accent Mr. Kennedy.” She smiled and shook his hand “Jill Valentine, and don’t worry you are forgiven.”

Before Jill could say a she saw a woman in a beautiful black strapless dress approaching them, she seemed closer to Claire’s age than Leon’s or hers, Jill mused. She seemed determined though she kept looking back at who, Jill thought, was her friend. The woman in question finally stood in front of both of them and Jill shoot a curious glance at Leon as if to say ‘you know her?’ the man just shrugged.

“Hi, I’m really sorry to bother you” her eyes darted from the two of them before they settled on Leon “but my friend back there wanted me to ask you something” he looked intrigued to say the least and Jill got a bad feeling in her belly. Was she going to ask him out? Invite him to dance with the other people?

“Are you two a couple?”

That wasn’t the question she expected.

That seemed to surprise them both and it must showed in their faces because the woman, who was still nameless, was quick to talk again “I’m sorry if this is out of nowhere but the thing is that my friend, who’s name is Amy by the way, wanted to ask for a dance but didn’t know if you were together.”

Jill closed her eyes, threw her head back and took a calming breath. _She was right_ , the girl wanted to ask Leon out. Not the one in front of them and was already beautiful but her _friend,_ who even _more_ beautiful.

Fuck.

She resisted the sudden urge to grab Leon’s hand and say that yes, thank you very much, they were a couple. But she resisted it, they just met and if she did something crazy like that the chances of even being friends would disappear.

God, what was wrong with her? She never felt or acted this way. _Ugh._ It was Leon’s fault, his and that stupid face and stupid butt chin. Her feelings were over the whole place. Fuck.

 _Breathe, Valentine, breathe._ She was going to repeat like a mantra until her desire to punch ‘Amy’ went away.

In the meantime, the ex-cop had decided to introduced themselves to the woman, whose name was Rachel, since apparently Jill was off. He thought it would be a good time to turn her on, no pun intended.

The voice of Leon made her eyes open.

“Earth to Valentine, anyone there?” he sounded amused, why? She looked at him and Leon raised both eyebrows and wiggled them and looked at the woman in the black dress, following his actions Jill looked at her and saw the curious face she had. With the two of them now facing her, the woman Leon decided to talk again.

“I’m sorry I didn’t introduce myself to you. I’m Rachel and that” she pointed a finger at a redhead that was with her back against a wall and was watching them with rapt attention “is Amy, though you knew that because I already said it. Anyway, are you two together or not? It’s just a dance anyway” and this time, she didn’t look at Leon but at Jill, an action which left the latter really confused and the former more amused than before.

She glanced at Leon and the asshole was hiding a smile by drinking his beer, she looked back at Rachel “No, we’re not together. We’re just friends, right?” she directed the last part at Leon, who nodded enthusiastically.

Rachel turned her back to them and gave a thumbs up to Amy, then turned back again looked at Jill “So, you wanna go dance?”

Leon was smiling so hard that his cheeks were hurting. He knew from the second the girl stopped in front of them and made those questions they were meant to ask Jill out; he had seen them looking at her when she went to grab the beers and when she came back. The funny thing was that Jill herself didn’t realize it and judging from her face, she was actually surprised. She looked like she might pass out so he took pity on her, he looked at Rachel “She’ll be there in a minute, don’t worry” she nodded taking the hint and went away, a little confused as to why Jill was shocked.

Jill looked at him “Why did you say that? I don’t want to dance with anybody!”

“Come on, Valentine, it won’t be so bad. Go dance, have a good time.” He gave her a little pat in the head, taking advantage of his stature over hers.

She liked that. Was it weird? Pats were reserved for your pets, or someone you really liked. Or a friend maybe? Anyway, she had to solve the thing with the dance.

“But what if I go dance and it turns out she’s interested in me?”

“It’s obvious she’s interested in you. Otherwise she wouldn’t have asked you to dance. Well, she sent her friend to ask you but the point stands”

She looked a little lost still, so he softened his voice “Look, dancing with someone doesn’t mean you’re going to get married and have children. You know that right? You just go, and dance. If she wants anything else from you but you don’t then that’s it. Go have a good time, Jill. For me?” he gave her his best puppy eyes, which seemed to make the trick since she nodded.

“Okay I’ll go. Thanks.”

“Don’t sweat it.” Before he let her go, he pointed to the balcony, that was luckily empty “when you’re done dancing, if you still want to hang out with me, I’ll be there.” He was feeling rather brave in that moment so he took advantage of it and gave her a quick peck in the cheek, then left and went to the balcony as quickly as possible so she wouldn’t see his blush.

By doing so, he missed Jill touching softly her cheek and smiling as she went to the dance floor.

Once he reached the balcony, he welcomed the change in the air, he could breathe more freely here. The cold from outside was a nice change from the cramped-up heat of inside the apartment. Ever since Raccoon City, he didn’t like being with so many people around him, it felt weird, made him feel trapped almost like is if they would all turn to zombies and try to attack him.

He glanced at his watch.

_22:45._

A sigh escaped his lips, he just wanted this party to be over and be in his home with a warm cup of coffee and watch his favorites movies on tv. But he knew he couldn’t leave like that; it would be rude and Chris also wanted to talk to him about an offer, the way he said it was really ominous, but he didn’t have a bad feeling about it. Besides, he was having a nice time with Jill. It was weird, from the moment he saw her something clicked. It just felt right, talk to her was so easy and funny and _right_ that was the only way he had to describe it. Maybe he was reading too much into it, perhaps she didn’t feel the same and they stayed friends or mere acquaintances. Either way, he had to play it cool. He no longer was a teenager, he had to act like the grown man he was today.

He felt her presence besides him before she spoke.

“Enjoying the view?”

He didn’t spare her a look nor a word and just nodded.

After a beat of silence, she spoke again. “I’m sorry.”

Another nod from him. He was being petty, that much was obvious. But she had said some unjustified things, she hadn’t been there hence no right to criticize the decisions he took.

The silence between them sparkled with tension, it was filled with pent up emotions from both of them. Anger, resentment, love, hate, regret.

It was him, in the end, who decided to break the silence and offer an olive branch. He angled his body towards her, look her in the eyes and said “I did what I had to do. It was that or they would kill her. I couldn’t let that happen. I protected her at the best of my abilities, because I care for her and always will. Am I sorry that it happened? Yeah, I am. If I could turn back time and change the way it went, I wouldn’t” his voice was breaking a little bit and his eyes were beginning to sting, so he took a breath to calm himself and continued without breaking the eye contact “because it was the only choice, the _safest_ choice I had. But I don’t regret it. Because it kept her safe and alive.”

“Don’t ever doubt me, because I’ll always do everything I can to keep Sherry safe. Okay?”

She, already crying, could only nod. She regretted the words she said the minute they came out of her mouth but she was _so_ angry. And now she saw the pain that the words caused.

“Has she talked to you about staying here with you until the first of January? Because on the way over here today, she was nervous about that.”

And there it was, the olive branch. He said what he had to say, and moved on to something else and that way let their fight behind them, she recognized the subject change for what it was and felt grateful for it.

“Yeah, we talked about it. She’s going to stay with me in my bedroom. Tomorrow we’ll start planning where to go and spend time together” she then added “Of course, if you want to co-“

“No, no” he cut her offer off, this was their time together after many months. He couldn’t interfere “Sherry’s been waiting to spend time with you for a long time, so I won’t get involved.” She nodded and turn to go back inside; she was almost at the doors when his voice stopped her.

“Claire?”

She looked at him expectantly. He opened his arms, as if waiting for a hug.

“Friends?”

She laughed, walked back to him and they hugged. This wasn’t like their last hug, before she left. That one had been about closure and the end of their “adventure”.

This? This was a fresh start.

Before separating from the hug, she said “There has never been one single day, where I didn’t consider you my best friend. Just so you know.” He smiled, that pretty smile of his.

“Ditto”

She stepped away from him, and walked back to the door, as she was entering the apartment she almost crashed into Jill. They looked at each other for a second before the older woman asked “Hey Claire, you just came out from the balcony, right?” a nod “Is Leon there?” another nod “Great, thanks” and with that Jill left leaving a very, _very_ confused Claire behind.

Jill stepped into the balcony watching Leon from behind and she took her sweet moment admiring his ass, she soon decided to try and scare him so she started taking slow and quiet steps towards him just as she was a few inches from him, he turned around. And just like that, they were face to face and they were both aware of their closeness. Her eyes closed; her cheeks started to burn, her throat went dry.

A hundred different thought went through her head.

 _Fuck_ , was the first one and also the second.

 _Should I kiss him?_ Was the third.

 _What if I have bad breath?_ Was the fourth.

 _Stop thinking about it and just do it!_ Was the fifth.

Still, it seemed like she thought for too long because once she opened her eyes, he was already a couple of steps aside of her, effectively terminating their closeness.

Fuck indeed. She went to stand at his side, at a _proper_ distance.

Leon noticed that her cheeks were pink and thought it was because, to the best of his knowledge she had just finished dancing.

“So, how was the dance?” he teased.

She couldn’t help the smiled that formed in her face “It was actually really fun! She immediately noticed that I’m not into girls like that but she was super sweet about it and didn’t take it the wrong way or anything like that. So thank you for encouraging me to dance with her.” He had to admit, it was nice seeing her smile like that and being so excited about a simple dance. As if she had never had one that was actually enjoyable.

“No need to thank me, it was the right thing to do.”

“Hey, I know. Why don’t you dance with me?” Later, Jill would say to herself that it was his gentle smile and the way the lights of the apartment made his features more appealing that they already were what caused her to asked him that. The opportunity just presented itself really, she mused. And in reality, it wasn’t just about the dance, it meant more than that. Never in her entire life, had Jill enjoyed dancing, either the partner wasn’t the right one or she just couldn’t put her heart on it. But thanks to him, just minutes ago at least the second one was there. She put her heart on that dance floor with Amy because he had pushed her into doing it and she enjoyed it. And now? Now she had the chance to experience both. She knew that if she went inside to dance with Leon and enjoyed it, she would be done for.

It was crazy actually. How long had she known him for? An hour at best? And here she was, feeling like a teenager with a crush. Jill wouldn’t have other way.

And Leon? He felt on cloud nine. He wasn’t about to refuse this, god no. So, he said yes and they went inside, and did whatever their bodies made them do according to the song.

They danced, they jumped, they mover their bodies like crazy along with everyone else, they sang the lyrics. They did it together, and the best part? They enjoyed it.

The only reason they stopped dancing, besides the fact that they were absolutely tired, was Chris turning down the volume of the music and announcing that in only five minutes it would be Christmas and he suggested everyone to grab something to drink so they could all celebrate at midnight. Leon and Jill sat on the couch, a glass of water in each hand. They had decided that, if they were about to dance and jump it was smarter to be sober while doing so. That way, they could hopefully avoid puking.

Jill timidly rested her head on his shoulder, making a point to ignore Rebecca who was talking with Barry’s wife Kathy. The little shit had been making kissing faces at her ever since she and Leon had one slow dance, which she had to admit was fucking beautiful.

Ignoring Rebecca for the time being, Jill sank further into Leon, feeling extremely cozy and sleepy and loving the way he put one arm around her, hugging her.

The sound of the tv was the only thing stopping her from falling sleep right then and there. The news channel was on, live broadcasting in Times Square as the countdown began. Everyone was screaming the numbers.

10.

She didn’t want to move out of this position. It was the most comfortable she had been in a while.

9.

He started playing with her hair, because it was something that he wanted to do since he first saw her. And he was right after all, her hair was soft as silk.

8.

He noticed that Sherry was watching him, she flashed a smile and winked at him. She _winked._ Brat.




She caught Chris’s eye from where she was, and he nodded. Almost like saying ‘I approve’. She didn’t need it, but it felt nice regardless.

6.

Amy gave her a thumbs up.

5.

He saw Claire watching him with a wistful smile on her face. He would think on that later.

4.

They looked at each other.

3.

He put a hand on her face, she put a hand on the back of his head.

2.

He leaned down; she angled her face up to give him better access to her lips.

1.

They kissed.

It was short, sweet and it felt _right._

“Merry Christmas” they both said and laughed, she sank into his chest and smiled.

All was well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Seriously? I'm legit overwhelmed with the amount of support I have recieved since starting this story. I can't thank you enough.  
> This is my favorite for now.  
> I don't know how many chapters this will have, maybe I finish it once the new year's party is done.  
> Maybe I continue with the story changing things.  
> We'll have to see.  
> Thank you so much again.  
> PS: This chapter was originally much larger. Almost 5.500 words. But I decided that it was too much, so I separated it. Next chapter we will see what the offer Chris mentioned was.


	5. Chapter 5.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The christmas party is over, Leon finally hears the offer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoy! ♥

Not even ten minutes had passed when someone said “Okay, let’s leave this place and continue the party at my house” some cheered loudly, other raised their cups. But all of them left.

Jill could’ve sworn that Chris almost cried with relief, she knew that the ‘party’ had been Claire’s idea. He didn’t even know most of those people. She suspected that neither did Claire.

Once everyone had left and it was only them, Leon stood up and offered to help with the cleaning but Claire told him not to worry they would clean up everything in the morning.

Before he sat down again next to Jill, he remembered something.

“Sherry” he called out to the girl, who was next to Moira on some stools.

“Yes?” her voice sounded heavy with sleep.

_She must be really tired._ “Did you bring here your bag with clothes and other items? Or did you leave them at the car? Like a told you _not_ to. Her sheepish smile was answer enough.

“Alright, I’ll go grab it” he was on the door when a voice called him, he turned only to find that Chris was walking to him.

“I’m going with you.”

“You sure? It’s only a bag with some clothes and a toothbrush, I may not be going to the gym to be a bodybuilder like you, but I think I can manage a bag.” The serious face that his friend had made him realize that this wasn’t about the bag.

They were in silence while going downstairs, thankfully his friend’s apartment wasn’t exactly in the upper floors. That would’ve been awkward.

Once they reached his car Chris spoke.

“Be careful” and before Leon could ask what should he be careful about the other man continued “About whatever is happening with you and Jill. I don’t want you, nor Jill to get hurt. Specially Jill, she isn’t the type of person who rush this kind of things. And I must admit, I’ve never seen her like that. You did in hours what many men and women tried for days, months etc.”

“What’s that?”

“You made her have fun, to loosen up a little. She’s always too serious. Too focused on her job. And that’s okay, when you are on the clock. We’re all one person on the job, and another when we are not working. She’s not like that, even when we went out for drinks or stuff like that, she would always put some distance between her and everybody else. It got worse since the mansion and escaping the city.” Leon couldn’t say anything, he was just trying to picture the woman he knew tonight, well last night but that wasn’t important, and the one Chris was talking about.

“I know it’s hard to believe. If everything goes well, you’ll get to know her better and that’s, that’s something. Because Jill? Jill is one of a kind.”

Leon nodded, few hours or not, he knew that if he somehow screw, things with her he would regret it forever.

“Alright, I hear you loud and clear. You don’t need to keep barking at this tree.”

Chris gave him a nod looking very serious.

Then, out of nowhere, the serious expression was gone and got replaced with a big smile. He walked towards Leon and hugged him tight.

“My best friend’s in the world are together! This makes me so happy.”

_What_? It was official, Chris Redfield had gone mad. He returned the hug, but quickly separated from him to look for any signs of craziness.

“What do you mean best friend’s in plural? And we aren’t together. Yet.”

“What do you mean what do I mean huh? She’s my best friend, you’re my best friend it’s not that complicated” he gave him a pat on the back and walked towards the door “I’m going back inside, it’s fucking freezing in here. Grab your bag and hurry up.”

Leon sighed, grabbed his keys, opened the passenger door of the car and picked Sherry’s bag when he realized something. He quickly closed the door and went after Chris.

“Hey dumbass, what about Barry? Isn’t he your best friend too?”

“Mm, more like a brother in arms. We were in the air force together, but it doesn’t matter right now. Let’s go back to the apartment before my balls freeze off.”

Once Leon entered the apartment with Chris, the first thing he noticed was that none of the teenagers where there. He walked towards Claire and showed her the bag.

“There are some clothes in here, I think all of them. At least the one’s in my apartment and a toothbrush. Where is she anyway?” Claire took the bag and pointed to her door of her bedroom “She’s there with Moira and Polly, the three of them were really tired. We’re gonna wake them up later, but for now Barry said that they needed to talk with you. Everything okay?” she looked concerned for a moment but he was quick to clear any preoccupations existing “Yeah, don’t worry. Must be work related. You’re going to sleep too? Or are you going to stay for the chat too?” he noticed that her eyes looked at something or someone behind him, she grimaced a little and shook her head “I’m going to bed too, I have a couch on my bedroom so I’ll sleep there while the girls sleep in the bed. Thanks for bringing this” she pointed to the bag “see you in the morning to open up presents?” he nodded “Good, goodnight Leon.”

He couldn’t even reply before she pecked him on the cheek and left. He turned around only to find that everyone was seated by couples it seemed. Barry and Kathy, Chris and Rebecca which left him with Jill. He smiled at that.

Jill was waiting for him; she was getting rather sleepy and missed the warmth that Leon’s body provided. Once he sat down next to her, they returned to their previous positions. He immediately stated playing with her hair, which she liked though it made her even more sleepy.

Chris took the initiative and started explaining everything.

“Here’s the thing Leon. I want you to listen and I want you to listen well. We here” he pointed at Rebecca, Jill, Barry then himself “were thinking of starting a company against B.O.Ws” when he saw that Leon was about to open his mouth he put his hand out, signaling him to wait “that stands for Bio Organic Weapons. The four of us, have the knowledge enough to fight this. We survived in the spencer mansion and saw a whole lot of shit. So we know how to fight it and we know that Umbrella is the bad guy here along with Wesker.”

Jill, who was closing her eyes because she couldn’t handle anymore the sleep felt Leon nod.

Chris stood up to continue, he was passionate about this, that much was clear to everyone in the room.

“We wouldn’t be the only organization that fights B.O.Ws the FBC is one, but we would have soldiers with experience. That know what to expect. We also have all the money we need to have a base, have personnel, paychecks etc. We also managed to have all the forms and papers necessary to bring all of this together. Jill and I would be the only ones in the field since she” he pointed at Rebecca “wants to be in the equipment area and everything that has to do with studying the virus, and he” he pointed at Barry “is going to be in charge of guns management and the voice of the soldiers when meeting with the higher ups. There is nothing missing here, we have politicians at our side and everything.” 

They all looked really proud of what they were accomplishing here. And it was no small feat either.

“All of this sounds great, really, it does. I just don’t get where I come in.”

He had to say it, he didn’t understand what his role was in all of this. 

“What I want to offer to you is a chance to work with us, you also have the experience and you are now under training to become a special agent for this type of scenarios” once he finished that sentence Jill opened her eyes, sleep be damned. They all knew what Chris was going to offer, except for of course Leon. What nobody, except Chris, knew was the special agent thingy.

Jill couldn’t help but feel like this just made him more attractive. So naturally, she had to peck him in the lips, had to. Thankfully everybody ignored that. 

“Look me in the eye and tell me that they aren’t training you to send you alone on special missions to prevent outbreaks like the one in Raccoon from happening again.” Leon’s silence was answer enough. 

“Okay Chris, cut to the chase. What is this job offer?” 

“Simple, work with us. We’ll make sure that you can work under the government’s thumb but also cooperate with us whenever we need you.” 

Everyone was silent, waiting for Leon to say something. 

“What you’re saying is that basically I’ll be like a double agent?” 

Chris shrugged “Yeah, basically.” 

During the conversation, Jill noticed how Rebecca wanted to say something but clearly didn’t have the power to interfere, so she did it for her “Becca, is there something wrong?" 

The girl let out a small ‘eep’ and jumped a little, before sighing. 

“No, nothing is wrong. It’s just that I don’t understand why Chris had us all in the same room for this, when he could just ask Leon in private.” 

That was a good point, so Jill looked at Chris expecting his answer. 

The man in question, blushed. Yes, that’s right he _blushed._ “I just wanted to have a talk, all of us together. Like, a first reunion of sorts y’know? The round table?” 

It was actually really cute that he thought that. Kathy, who had been a silent observer until then said “You don’t have to blush darling; it’s endearing that you think like that. It proves that you think of everybody here as your teammates already.” 

After that, Leon accepted the offer but gave a warning. 

"You have my yes, now you have to wait and see what the government will say. I doubt they’ll be happy to share the only agent they have in this area.” “Don’t worry about that. We’ll offer our help to them in return.” 

With that settled, it was time to wrap the party. Barry had taken a sleep Polly in his arms and said a quiet goodbye, while Kathy woke Moira up. Once the Burton’s had left it was only Rebecca and Chris, along with Leon and Jill. Sherry and Claire were both sleeping in the latter’s room. Leon was really tired and the only thing he wanted to do right now was go to his bed, lay on it and never leave its beautiful arms again, her calling was that of a siren enchanting him.

Still, there was something he wanted to ask so he did. 

“Are you two a couple?” He figured the direct way, was the best way to ask it. That, was an answer that Jill had wanted for a long time but never got. Her best friend always found a way to avoid answering, this time though, that wasn’t going to happen. 

Chris shared a look with Rebecca and they held hands. The first one to say something was her. 

“Yeah, we are. Is there anything wrong with that?” The funny thing about Rebecca was, Leon considered, you would never guess how _fucking_ _scary_ she could be since she had a cute and innocent face. Jill was quickly to defuse the situation however. 

“Nobody said that Becca, relax. It’s nice that you’re finally together, you’ve been dancing around each other long enough.” 

Chris stood up and stretched “Yeah, I had to get my head out of my ass someday and ask her out before she realized she could do better than me” he said, pointedly looking at Leon who smirked.

Rebecca stood up as well and looked at Leon “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean like that. I’m just tired and get defensive, I’m going to bed. It was nice to meet you Leon, I think we’re going to see each other a lot” she laughed and nodded. She looked at Jill waved at her, squeezed Chris hand and went into his bedroom. “I’m also beat and tomorrow I have to get up early so we can put every present under the tree. Jill, wait here I’m gonna bring some blankets and a pillow” without waiting for a response he went towards his bedroom. 

Leon and Jill just sat there, silently loving their closeness and the comfort they gave each other.

“You know,” he began “when I saw you talking to Claire, one of the first things I noticed was your hair.” 

“Really?” 

“Yep” he nodded “It’s seemed really soft” to prove his point he started playing with it, delicately as if it was the best thing in the world “yeah, it’s soft alright." 

She laughed, delighted with his admiration over her hair and brushed her fingers delicately against his lips. 

“The first thing I noticed about you” her voice was barely a whisper “was your butt” she finished with a laugh, he joined her soon after. 

“It is a nice butt isn’t it?” She didn’t reply with words, just kissed him until they were both out of breath. 

Once they separated, he rested his forehead against hers. 

“That was nice right?” 

“Yeah” she agreed “it was. It’s too bad you have to leave right now” 

“I have to, but I’ll come back tomorrow and we’ll spend more time together if you want.”

She realized something in that moment, they were the same Leon and her. She could see that he didn’t have good experiences with relationships and was just as surprised as her that this was going so fast. Whatever this was, she now knew that this was serious. 

“Of course, I want to spend more time with you, this wasn't a one time thing Mr. Kennedy” she saw Chris coming towards them, he didn’t approach them though he just dropped the thing for her in a chair and left.

He was giving them their space and that was something she could appreciate. 

Jill patted his chest “Okay Leon, as much as I want to spend more time with you, I’m going to fall asleep at any moment. And you have to go home, so you can rest and come back to me tomorrow ‘kay?”

He nodded, gave her a last kiss and left. 

She got up, grabbed the blankets and pillow that her best friend had left her and the laid down on the couch. 

And if the next morning she woke up with a smile on her face, she wouldn’t tell no one. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll never get tired of saying this lol but thanks so much for your nice comments.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy?♥

When Leon woke up in the morning, he thought he had dreamed last night. It was something that only happened in rom-com movies, maybe this time he was the protagonist. He closed his eyes, and decided that he deserved to stay in bed five more minutes, enjoying the coolness of the morning. With his eyes closes, all the memories started flashing through his mind and he couldn’t help the laugh that left his body.

When was the last time he felt like this? When he finally graduated the police academy? No, that was a good feeling. But this? This was something new.

And he loved it.

After some more minutes, he got up, did some exercise and went to shower. After all, he was going to see Jill again in an hour or so. He glanced at the clock in his bedside table, it read eight a.m. he had to be at Chris’s apartment at ten thirty, so he still plenty of time. The only thing that bothered him was the fact that he didn’t have a gift to Jill.

He knew that she wouldn’t be mad about it. They only met the night before. Still, he wanted to give her something. He would think on it later, for now it was better to get ready and be presentable.

Exactly thirty minutes later, as he heard the rain pour down the windows of his bedroom Leon stood in front of his bed, thinking of what to wear. He wanted to look nice, nothing to fancy but yet good. Would Jill even like it if he put thought in how he dressed? Or would she appreciate more if he dressed like he would normally do. After a few minutes of swirling the different choices in his head he decided it would be best to just be himself. Some nice, dark blue jeans, a tight blue undershirt, the one they made him use in the government facility where he trained. It was a nice look he thought, it made his muscles and abs pop out.

He wasn’t the showing off type, but meh. Maybe this would work out in his advantage.

Finally, he put his brown leather jacket. He looked at the clock again, it read eight forty-five.

Damn.

What was he going to do with the spare time?

He went to the lobby and searched for something to burn time.

Eat breakfast? Definitely.

Play video games? Maybe.

He could get _way_ to immersed in those, so it wasn’t a good total good idea.

And then he spotted the piano, and remembered all those classes he took years ago.

_Why not?_

He took a seat in front of the instrument, and began warming up. Yeah, this was just fine.

\---- 

Watching Jill enjoy her breakfast, which consisted in a nice hot cup of coffee and some scrambled eggs, Chris thought that there was something else there. She was all smiley face and sparkling eyes. In the morning. She used to be the Grinch every single morning, and now? She was Santa fucking Claus.

It felt so weird seeing her like that.

So, he decided the better course of action here was to approach her and ask what the hell had her so happy. He kinda had a suspicion, it was obvious. But he wanted to hear it from her. They were also alone in the kitchen, since she was the last to wake up and everyone else was already in the living room.

“Hey, mind telling me what is it that has you so damn happy? And don’t try and lie me or come with some stupid excuse, because I will see right thro-”

“It’s Leon” She didn’t have any reason to lie, not really. Besides, it was obvious. Why else would she be smiling like a fool? It’s not like last night she had the best night ever, duh.

“Oh, I knew that already… I just thought that you would come up with some weird excuse or try and hide your feelings”

“First of all, as you have already pointed out it, you knew. So making an excuse would be dumb and second of all I just don’t feel like hiding it.”

She was being really truthful here, and without alcohol too. What was going on!?

“I get it, I get it. You’re happy. You met a dude you really like for the first time in what? Twenty-six years? But what is happening here? You smiling so freely, answering questions and not playing the ‘mysterious’ card to avoid answering. What is so special about Kennedy? Don’t get me wrong here, I like the guy. He’s my friend. Just, what is it?”

Jill took a few seconds to answer, it was a series of hard questions. She knew that she was a hard ass. She knew that everybody used to think of her as a grumpy, mean woman. And she still was, but right now? She wasn’t feeling like it. She was feeling good like she hadn’t in a long time.

And it was because of Leon, but at the same time it wasn’t. It was complicated.

“Chris” she began, looking him in the eyes “we are planning on creating our own anti-B.O.Ws organization right?”

“Yes”

“Once we do that, we will go on a bunch of life-threatening missions and we won’t have a lot of time for ourselves. Correct?”

“That checks out, yeah”

“We have a difficult path ahead of us, a path that we didn’t exactly chose. It was put in our way because of destiny, if you will. I know _I_ didn’t want to do this at twenty-six. If it were for me, I would be happy still being a cop right now.” She sighed, missing the old days. It used to be so much simpler.

“And yesterday, I just forgot about everything, my nightmares, my current problems, my future problems. They all went away for a few hours. And it felt _good_. I felt alive, something that I hadn’t felt in a long time. So yeah, Leon helped me feel better and everything but, in a way, I also learned how to be happy for myself too. I don’t know if this much sense.”

She looked unsure, she didn’t know if she had explained herself correctly and judging by the look was giving her, she didn’t.

“Basically, what I’m saying is that if whatever happened yesterday with Leon was a onetime thing” _hopefully not_ “I would still have a smile on my face. Because I feel good, that’s it in short.”

He nodded, still looking unsure.

“Right, well… good for you? I mean, yeah. Good for you, I’m happy.”

“Thanks, I appreciate you worrying. Now, tell me all about you and Rebecca…”

\--- 

Getting out of his car, Leon made way to Chris apartment, with every step he took on the stairs a new way of asking Jill out on a date came to his head. Should he invite her to go drink a coffee? Maybe a dinner at night at his place. Or hers.

Did she have a place? More importantly, should he ask her out? Maybe what happened the night before was just a little fooling around, nothing serious. But he felt like he should give a try, if she said yes… he wouldn’t have to spend the rest of the week alone.

Once he was at the door, he took a deep breath and knocked. After a couple of seconds, Jill opened the door. She whistled at the sight of him and gave him a once-over.

“You clean up nice” she said, and it was true. She was pretty sure he was a demigod or some weird thing like that. No one could be that good looking.

He returned the look she gave him, “You’re not too bad yourself. Miss me?” He absolutely did not know where this confidence was coming from, he just hoped it didn’t make him look like a douchebag or some cocky asshole.

She opened her mouth to say something when Claire appeared out of seemingly nowhere.

“Oh, hey Leon!” she said a little too cheerily and stood beside Jill.

Jill could only roll her eyes at the “convenient” appearance of Claire. It was obvious that the younger girl was jealous, the entire morning Jill was at the receiving end of the stink eye. She ignored it, not only because she didn’t want to fight over a man, no matter how beautiful he was, but because she understood that sometimes people where protective of their friends. She hoped that was it, the alternative was that Claire had feelings for the special agent. And she did _not_ want that problem in her life. 

Meanwhile, Leon was looking at both of them wondering what was happening. On one sided Claire had a big smile that was making her seem crazy, while Jill had what he assumed was her RBF.

It came as no surprise to him that even with a bitchy face, she was beautiful.

Still, he didn’t know that hell was going on. There was a weird tension dancing around them that for the life of him, he couldn’t figure it out. He realized that he hadn’t answered to Claire, so he cleared his throat and responded “Hey Claire, how are you? Is Sherry being good?”

He saw the smile in Claire’s face fade away slowly, as if what he said wasn’t what she expected. _Did I say something wrong?_

“Yeah, Sherry is doing fine. We are actually making a list of all the things we’d like to do and all the places we’d like to go together, you can tag along at some point if you want to” she said.

Leon glanced at Jill and quickly looked away before answering to Claire.

“No, that’s okay Claire. Like I said last night, these days are for you two. I rather not interfere with that.”

He couldn’t help but feel bad when Claire just nodded and went back inside. He didn’t want to blow her off like that, he just wanted to spend a little more time alone with Jill. Jill felt bad for smiling, really, but she couldn’t help it. No matter how sweet or kind Leon had tried to be, that had to sting. And part of her felt a little amused that Claire, after all the nasty looks that she had given her, was rejected just like that. But she felt bad she really did. 

She looked at him again and tried to sound as normal as possible, hopefully hiding the laughter from her voice.

“We should get inside with the others and unwrap the presents. We’ll talk after that, ‘kay?” Basically, vibrating with confidence, she walked up to him, pressed a chaste kiss against his lips and sauntered back inside.

_What the hell._

Really, that was the only thing that crossed his mind as he stood there watching Jill’s Valentine beautiful back retreating. Every second that passed, the more in love he was. Without a doubt.

\--- 

The unwrapping of the presents went without a hitch, Chris loved the holster he got him, Claire got tear eyed when she saw the jacket that Leon bought for her. It was nearly identical to the one she wore the night they met on Raccoon City. Unfortunately, he couldn’t get anything for Rebecca or Jill but they didn’t seem to care. In return Chris gave him a hair cutting kit, _what was wrong with his hair?_ They all laugh at that, minus Leon though.

Then Claire gave him a Prince album with his greatest hits, impressed he looked at her “So you can listen to it when you’re driving or stuff like that” he loved it, really.

After that, they eat lunch together. Once they finished eating, Jill and Leon where about to be the only ones left in the apartment. Claire and Sherry left to go outside and spend the day together and Chris and Rebecca where preparing for going to her parent’s house. 

Taking advantage of the situation, Jill decided to ask Leon a question that she had been thinking of for quite a while now. She tilted her head to look at him, “Hey, are you going to be busy later?”

Leon answered instantly “No, I was thinking of going home and rest, why?”

“Before I went to travel around the world to get the help we needed to start the organization Chris talked to you about, I bought a house” She saw the questions building up in him and shushed him “What I need help with is taking my stuff. The house is already furnished, Chris and Claire took care of that. I just need to take my suitcases and everything that I took with me when I went to travel.”

He nodded “Yeah, let’s do it”

“Really?” Jill asked “thank you, I’ll go grab my stuff.”

After she left Leon immediately started doing a victory dance. _Good job Kennedy! Now what you have to do is play it cool, play it cool and all will go right_

“Nice moves rookie?”

Ah, he wasn’t alone. Trying to conserve as much dignity as he could, Leon turned around to see a giggling Rebecca and a smiling Chris.

“What made you so happy you decided to dance in our lobby?”

“Ah, it was nothing. Let’s not talk about this never, ever, ever again.” Of all the people why did it have to be Chris that saw him dance? Damnit.

Jill returning with her things put a stop at the conversation.

The moment though, hadn’t ended, Leon realized. Because now Chris would ask why she was with her suitcases and that would lead to her answering that he was taking her home. Her home. Damnit.

Exactly like he predicted, it happened.

“Hey, Jill?” Chris started “Why do you have the suitcases? I thought you’d stay here for a couple more days and then we’d take you to your house”

In a nonattached way she responded “Leon will help me now.” She wasn’t looking at him when she said that, she was looking at Chris. Still, Leon felt the same shiver that the other man run down his spine. Her tone was cold.

Chris nodded, understanding the tone for what it meant ‘Mock me and you’re dead.” But not Rebecca, she didn’t understand the tone or just didn’t care because she went from giggles to full blown out laughter.

Chris took her out of the door before she said something in front of Jill that put her life on the line.

After the door closed, there was a pregnant silence in the room. Leon was looking at her with something akin to admiration, which was something Jill wasn’t used to. When she talked in that tone, most people were either offended or afraid. Mostly the latter, but not this guy, nuh uh.

She looked at him, “I’m sorry for that. If I’m correct he would start making fun of us” she paused in consideration “what was Rebecca laughing about?”

He laughed nervously “Oh, nothing important. Should be leave now?” _Please say yes_

She moved closer to him, looked him the same way she did at Chris.

Leon wondered if she would use the same tone.

“You _are_ going to tell me. Maybe not now, but you will ‘kay?”

Silence.

Well, that confirmed what he already knew. Jill Valentine was fucking scary. And badass.

Jill smiled, amused with the face that he was making pecked him in the cheek.

“Come on handsome, let’s get this over with”

\------

It was a poor excuse, Jill knew that, but it worked. Because it got him in her house, and it got them alone, which is what she wanted in the first place.

The ride to her new house was fun, they exchanged stories about their childhoods, their teenage years. Him being the nerd of his class, growing up with a workaholic dad and basically raising himself, becoming a cop because he felt the need to help people. Stupid savior complex, she thought. But she wouldn’t judge.

And she told him about growing up with parents who clearly didn’t love each other but were married for convenience, being homeschooled, going in to the force because she had no real interests in life and maybe the military would give her a purpose.

It didn’t.

She gained some good skills from that though, so. It wasn’t all lost she guessed.

Once they got to her house and she had done everything she needed, Leon the sweet dork, excused himself and said that he was leaving so she could ‘rest and get acquainted with her new home’.

Safe to say, when he got the gist of it, Leon choose to stay with her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, sorry if this chapter seems rushed. It is. I didn't know where to go from last chapter, I think I updated this story waay to fast and didn't stop to think where I wanted it to go? I don't know. I'm sorry is this isn't good.  
> I guess this is writers block huh?   
> To be honest, I wanted ch5 to be the last one. Because I liked the ending of that, so.. yeah. Like I said, sorry. I'm new to this thing about writing and stuff. 
> 
> On a more happier note, thank you so much to all of you who stuck and read this mess of a story, those who commented, left a kudos, anything. Thank you so much.

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fanfic ever. In the history. And lately I have been into some Jill/Leon and there isn't enough. So I decided to give it a shot. This chapter is clearly lacking some Jill but I wanted to introduce Leon and his history with Claire 'cause she's gonna be a part of the story. So yeah, if anybody reads these I hope they like it.


End file.
